Renowned activist Winona LaDuke to speak at Cal Poly
SLO County residents are in for a treat next week when the Cal Poly Office of University Diversity & Inclusivity brings Honor the Earth program director Winona LaDuke for two free events on May 16. First will be a screening of the documentary First Daughter and the Black Snake, from 2-4 pm in University Union Room 220. The film chronicles LaDuke’s fight to protect her indigenous people’s clean water and pristine lakes from proposed oil and gas pipelines. Watch the trailer here. LaDuke will lead a discussion following the film.
From 6-8 pm, LaDuke will give a lecture in the Performing Arts Center as keynote speaker for Inclusive Excellence Month. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and is a two time vice presidential candidate with Ralph Nader for the Green Party. LaDuke works nationally and internationally on the issues of climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice with Indigenous communities. In her own community, she is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation-based nonprofit organizations in the country, and a leader in the issues of culturally based sustainable development strategies, renewable energy and food systems. In this work, she also continues national and international work to protect Indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering.
A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, LaDuke has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. She is a former board member of Greenpeace USA and is presently an advisory board member for the Trust for Public Lands Native Lands Program as well as a board member of the Christensen Fund. The author of five books, including Recovering the Sacred, All our Relations and a novel- Last Standing Woman, she is widely recognized for her work on environmental and human rights issues.
No reservations or tickets necessary. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information contact diversity@calpoly.edu or call (805) 756-2250.
